CECIL HURT: Discipline can make the difference in a close game or two

In the past, when the word “discipline” came up at a University of Alabama football press conference, it wasn’t a good thing.

On Thursday, that wasn’t the case.

Nick Saban talked at length about discipline after the Crimson Tide’s afternoon practice, but not the kind of discipline that has players running at 5 a.m. or sitting out for upcoming games. He talked about the kind of discipline that allows players to practice when it’s hot — using the current UA euphemism for heat, which, for those who speak Sabanese, is “a circumstance we did not create.” He talked about the kind of discipline that will enable a player to minimize mental mistakes and thus have a chance to outperform an opposing player who might have more physical talent but less mental fortitude.

From another coach, it might have sounded like so many motivational platitudes. Saban has a rare ability to make such statements and relate them directly and convincingly to football performance.

“It all comes back to one word — discipline,” Saban said. “Discipline means knowing what to do. It means knowing your keys on defense. It means knowing who to block. It means knowing how to block them, and knowing why it’s important to block them that way. Discipline affects your ability to make judgements, and that affects everything, even knowing when to call time outs.”

He had expounded on the same theme earlier in the press conference.

“This whole organization comes down to a series of choices. If I choose correctly, I give myself a chance to play winning football. This organization cannot tolerate poor judgement. If you make bad choices, you are going to get bad results.”

Hearing Saban speak in these terms was interesting in a couple of ways. First, it was the first hint of a reminder in the past few weeks that the team did have some off-the-field disciplinary issues. Those apparently have been handled quietly and efficiently and to the credit of the Alabama fan base (which gets plenty of blame from the media for its excesses, and not enough credit when it isn’t over the top), there hasn’t really been much said about it. That’s a reflection of an overall trust that the team has a coach who knows what he is doing — a trust that may come into play concerning on-the-field results as well.

Discipline of the kind Saban discussed is relevant in another way. There has been much discussion (as there should be, with the season less than two weeks away) about where Alabama stands, in terms of relative talent, against the rest of the SEC and how that will translate into wins and losses. It’s too early to hazard a guess at what Alabama’s record will be — primarily because I don’t know what’s going on in the summer camps of most of Alabama’s opponents. Yet the recent suggestion that the defensive talent level is down, especially by Alabama standards — an opinion which didn’t strike me as radical in the least — has generated (to judge from correspondence) a great deal of discussion. The opinion hasn’t changed — the talent level is down — but there are certainly ways to compensate for that.

Regardless of a team’s talent level (unless you are talking about an absolutely bare cupboard like the one Paul Bryant inherited at Texas A&M), discipline can make the difference in a close game or two, and the difference in two close games can make a huge difference in a team’s final record. After all, an 8-4 year is far better than a 6-6 year and, given the talent on offense, Alabama is certainly capable of an 8-4 year — if the defense is disciplined.

Saban was quick to say that Alabama “isn’t there yet.” He didn’t say that the team probably won’t be there by the first game, but that’s possible. (It won’t affect the outcome in that instance.) But at some point this season, the discipline — not the slap-on-the-wrist kind, but the pull-yourself-up-by-the-bootstraps kind — will take effect, and make a difference.

Cecil Hurt is sports editor of The Tuscaloosa News. Reach him at cecil.hurt@tuscaloosanews.com or at 205-722-0225